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Saturday, September 7, 2013

Top Recommendations for Limiting iPad Time

A discussion on our Facebook Fan Page revolved around ideas and apps to limit time on the iPad.

Michele wrote:"Need help! My 9year old ASD daughter has an iPad and I am looking for an app that will limit the amount of time she can do certain programs. Does anyone know of an app like this. Thanks for any help you can give."

Below are some ideas and some recommended apps in no particular order.

Michelle mentioned:"I'd invest in kindle fire. We have it or my son who is add/autism and it prevents him from going in his own zone. You can time apps, videos games....best $179 I spent!!! Plus for $6 a month you can get kindle Free time. All Educational books/games pass code."

Rachel replied:"They have visual timer apps. You can set a visual timer for a certain length of time and it plays music when time is up."

Kathleen commented:"We just use guided access to limit it so she can only be in one app at a time without my permission, but I wish there we something that timed apps out!! There's a YouTube timer but there's no good way to put parental controls on YouTube and there's too of a chance shed land somewhere unfavorable. I usually delete and re-download things and that's kinda a pain. But otherwise she'd spend all day on Netflix listening to the closing song from The Rescuers all day lol. So every morning Netflix is deleted, and she gets it back after dinner every night if didn't lose the privilege."

Jean suggested:"Use the guided access function...page 26 in the manual! You can password protect and limit use within an app! Hope this helps!"

Polly proposed:Android has a sandbox app that does exactly what you're after. Maybe research for the apple products. Im not sure what's out there."

From Karen:" 'Tempo Tim' interrupts to tell you time to switch out. I wish it were a better, bigger interruption, but it's something. It's really geared more toward classes or multiple users taking turns."

From iTunes:"Taking Turns with Tempo Tim is a tool to help kids share an iPad. At specified intervals, Tim will interrupt whatever App is running on the iPad or iPhone and tell the user that it is time to switch.

With Tim, there is no more arguing over whos turn it is, or who has been using the iPad or iPhone more.

Tim will start timing as soon as you leave the app, and continue for the set duration."

From Danene:"You might try Share Timer by storybots. It is designed so that kids have to share the iPad (each gets so many minutes and then turns it over to the next child). There is also one called Time to Play. Good luck!"

From iTunes:"Do your kids have trouble sharing? Share Timer by StoryBots is a free iPhone app for parents, featuring an easy-to-use timer that makes it fun for kids to take turns. Simply add up to six kids, set the time for each turn and let Share Timer take over. The app's visual display is perfect for pre-readers and uses sound to let kids know when it's time to switch. Share Timer automatically resets after each turn and provides background notifications so you can start it and then get back to the other 1,001 things you have to do!

Share Timer is part of the StoryBots world of learning and fun for kids and sanity-saving tools for parents. Check out all of the StoryBots apps for iPhone, iPad and web."

From Danene:"Screen time. I haven't tried it, but the description says that it is an app that lets you limit time your child uses iPhone or iPad. You set the time, press start, and pass it to your children. When time expires, it stops the game!"

From iTunes:"Screen Time is a simple app that allows you to set limits on the amount of time you children use an iPhone or iPad. Set a time length, press start and pass it to you children. After the time expires, a series of notifications will prevent your children from using the device until you enter the correct passcode."

From Krista:" I use an app called "Limit Game Time Now" an alert pops up every few seconds when the timer goes off and it won't stop until you enter a password. Not sure if it works while in guided access.

From Sherri:"I tried 'limit game time now' and didn't like it at all. It doesn't actually interrupt play, just pops up a a notification every few seconds."

From iTunes:"This app enables you to Limit your child's usage time on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, easpecially the game playing time.
It is a must have app for Parental control. By limiting the game time on the iDevice, you can protect your kids' eyes, stop game addiction and help building self control of your kids.

1. Set how many minutes your kids can use the iPad/iPhone/iPod
2. Set a password with which you can shift the limit.
3. Start the timer and hand the device to your kid.
4. An alarm will show when the timer ends. To stop the alarm, your kid have to handover the Device to you. Otherwise, the alarm keeps appearing.
5. Enter your Password to stop the alarm.